Former Davis County deputy attorney Tyler James Larsen claims that Rawlings subjected him to a hostile work environment for over three years and then fired him without due process.

According to the complaint, Larsen was eventually reinstated to his position, but he allegedly continued to be harassed by Rawlings.

Larsen claims that Rawlings committed “an act of workplace violence” against him in December 2011, though it is not yet clear what kind of violent act Rawlings is accused of committing.

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One of the employees at National Food’s egg farm in Lind, Washington claims that her former bad boss subjected her to a hostile work environment by demanding sexual favors from her on a weekly basis from 2003 to 2010 as a condition of keeping her job and by grabbing her.

According to the EEOC, when the woman’s coworkers complained to company management about the sexual harassment, they were fired or forced to quit their jobs.

The woman said, “For almost seven years, I tried to just survive these demands from my boss, because I needed to support my mother and my daughter. I hope my case will help other workers to speak out against sexual harassment. It’s important to know that that you have a right to say no to sexual demands even from a supervisor, and that the law protects you when you protest harassment.”

EEOC general counsel David Lopez said, “This lawsuit is another in an unfortunate pattern of employers taking advantage of female agricultural workers who often work in isolation and are unaware of their rights. It is one of the EEOC’s national priorities to combat discrimination against vulnerable workers, and we hope that this settlement sends a message to other employers that they need to be vigilant to prevent sexual harassment and other abuse.”

In addition to the $650,000 payment, National Food has also agreed to issue EEO policies in English and Spanish to employees throughout Eastern Washington and South Dakota. The company has committed to institute changes to ensure that its complaint procedures are accessible, and it will train its management and will hold its bosses accountable for any discrimination, harassment or retaliation that happens under their watch. National Foods will also not rehire any alleged harassers in any capacity.

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Hilliard is suing Jefferson Parish, Richard Hart, and JP President John Young. She claims that she complained over 25 times about the hostile work environment to members of Young’s administration.

An investigation into Hilliard’s allegations was launched in December 2011, and a report was submitted to the parish on February 10, 2012.  Hilliard’s attorney recently filed a copy of the report with the court.

According to the investigation report, the majority of employees interviewed corroborated Hilliard’s accusations against Hart. Several employees described the work environment as being “very intimidating” because of Hart, who was described as having an “abrasive” communication style.

Several employees said that “Hart’s behavior is out of control and he uses a demeaning and rude tone to subordinates within the organization.” The investigators were told that Hart has screamed at employees, thrown papers at an employee, and made some female employees cry.

A number of employees corroborated Hilliard’s allegations that Hart joked about “Thong Thursday” and made inappropriate hand gestures such as “jerking off” when belittling a situation.

It was confirmed by employees that Hart diminished the authority of female managers and supervisors by directing questions to their male subordinates.

The investigation report concluded that “Hart’s presence is a disruptive factor within Jefferson Parish government. Further, it is believed Richard Hart’s sexist behavior toward female employees may create liability for the Parish.”

Employees claimed that Hart “set the stage for the creation of a hostile work environment” from his first day on the job.

The investigation recommended to fire Hart or to give him the option to resign from his position. Hart resigned two days after the investigation report was submitted to Young.

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Merck is being accused of systematically discriminating and retaliating against its female and pregnant employees in the areas of promotions and compensation.

According to the complaint, Merck discourages management from hiring and promoting women, attempts to force pregnant women to leave the company so their managers’ compensation will not be affected, and structures compensation so that managers and colleagues of pregnant women get paid less because they work with women who take maternity leave.

The lawsuit was filed by Kelli Smith, a Senior Sales Representative who works at the Merck office in Toms River, NJ. Smith claims that she was subjected to a hostile work environment by her boss after she became pregnant.

According to Smith, she was demoted to an entry-level sales position after she returned from maternity leave. Smith claims that her managers told her she was demoted because of her pregnancy and maternity leave.

Prior to her pregnancy, Smith alleges that she was a successful sales rep at Merck and had even received national recognition from the company for her sales productivity and outstanding leadership.

Kate Mueting, one of Smith’s attorneys, said, “Female employees are discouraged from having children, and punished when they do. Ms. Smith’s supervisors admitted that Ms. Smith’s low ranking was due to the ‘timing of her baby.’ High-level company officials, including Human Resources, refused to address her discriminatory placement, and attempted to discourage Ms. Smith from raising allegations of discrimination.”

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Amy’s Baking Company was featured on Gordon Ramsay’s show, Kitchen Nightmares. The owners of Amy’s Baking Company are husband and wife Samy and Amy Bouzaglo. According to Amy, “In 2006, Samy invested over $1 million into this restaurant to make my dream come true.”

After watching the Amy’s Baking Company Kitchen Nightmares episode, it quickly became clear why, according to Amy and Samy, they have gone through “hundreds” of employees. Workplace bullying was one of the main ingredients that the owners displayed during much of the show.

Both Amy and Samy Bouzaglo showed almost no respect for either their customers or their employees. Amy said that the reason why they have such high turnover is that their employees are “dirty” and “lazy.”

The two bad bosses hurled numerous obscenities at their customers and employees. Amy referred to a customer as a “son of a bitch,” and said that another group of customers are “just f–cking haters…. I will go tell them to f-ck off if my husband doesn’t!”

At one point, Amy Bouzaglo threatened to hurt a customer with extremely spicy food: “I hope he eats it, and I just made it really spicy for him. I hope it hurts him.”

Any at another point, she threatenes someone else, though it’s not clear is she was referring to an employee or a customer: “I’m going to really hurt somebody if they send back my cakes.”

Samy Bouzaglo became irate, screaming, swearing, and threatening physical violence at a number of customers, one of whom Samy pushed, and at Ramsay at one point during the show. Samy explains, “If anyone tells me that my wife’s food is no good, I just tell them to leave the restaurant. I don’t want them, and don’t come back.” After one of the altercations, Samy reassures Amy by yelling to her in the kitchen, “Don’t worry, I told them to f-ck off!”

Viewers of Kitchen Nightmares got to witness one of the hundreds of firings that happened at Amy’s Baking Company. After a young employee politely asked Amy a legitimate work-related question, Amy went ballistic on her for no apparent reason, yelling at her: “You don’t need to question me, you can go home right now!” Amy then yelled to her husband, “Samy, I would appreciate it if you would send Katy home right now. I don’t need an attitude from her. What a little bitch.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, after Samy got into an altercation with Ramsay and Amy declared that the kitchen is closed, Amy told Katy in front of the other employees, “I think, Katy, you can go, for sure.” When Katy began to leave the kitchen, Amy started screaming at the teenage employee, “I’m talking to you, Katy. Katy, listen to me when I’m speaking to you! Do not walk away from me! You don’t work here anymore, ok! Don’t start crying! Why are you behaving like this! Oh my god! You’ve had an attitude with me all night long!”

Amy then explained to the camera, “She’s a poisonous little viper. I don’t allow people who have an attitude in my restaurant. What does she know? Who the hell is she? She is gone! That’s who she is! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

A waitress revealed to Ramsay that the owners do not allow the servers to keep their tips. Ramsay responded by telling her that she “must be the only server in this country that doesn’t get tips.” Samy later admitted to Ramsay that he does not give their servers their tips. An online petition has been started calling on the US Department of Labor and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to investigate Amy’s Baking Company for possible violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

A former employee told Ramsay that Samy made him wash his car one day. Another former employee said, “In the year and a half I was there, I saw at least 50 people come and go. They were in and out so fast… They don’t really know how to manage a restaurant… They both think that the whole world is out to get them.”

Since the show aired, Samy and Amy Bouzaglo have been busy defending themselves – and attacking critics with profanity-laced posts – on their Facebook page, which they now claim was hacked.

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The woman claims that a bad boss at River Point Farms subjected her to a sexually hostile work environment by constantly telling her that women are inferior to men and that she should agree to be beaten by her husband, who also worked at River Point.

The woman said, “My supervisor told me I was less than a man, that my husband should be allowed to beat me, and that I should put up with it because I am a woman.”

According to the EEOC, the woman’s boss, Lazaro Rodriguez, publicly encouraged her husband to kill her. When he tried to kill her in September 2010, Rodriguez blamed her when her husband was arrested and he then fired her in retaliation.

EEOC attorney William Tamayo said, “It is imperative that employers deal swiftly and effectively with harassment. Likewise, employers cannot make the problem go away by punishing the employee who reports harassment. We are pleased with the settlement and the fact that River Point Farms is taking action to prevent future occurrences of sexual harassment and retaliation in its workplace.”

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Paul Grimstad was named in a lawsuit filed by former DES spokeswoman Monique Lay. Lay claims that she and her supervisor were fired in 2011 in retaliation for complaining that a temporary employee was receiving preferential treatment in exchange for having sex with Grimstad.

Grimstad has acknowledged having sex with the employee.

In total, eight lawsuits have been filed by former DES employees, and some current employees have described a hostile work environment, workplace bullying, and sexual harassment in the department to state officials and on a workplace assessment.

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Damon McDowell claims that he was subjected to a racially hostile work environment by other police officers and by former police chief Tomi Peck.

McDowell, who was the only black police officer at the Sophia Police Department, was allegedly subjected to racial slurs and jokes by his coworkers. Photos of a monkey were allegedly placed on McDowell’s desk with the words “I talk like a monkey” written on them.

McDowell’s fellow officers also allegedly drew penises on his court papers or hid the documents so that McDowell would miss court hearings.

The racial harassment was allegedly done by police officers with Peck’s knowledge. McDowell claims that none of his coworkers were ever disciplined for the acts of harassment.

When McDowell complained to Peck about the hostile work environment, instead of investigating his complaints, she allegedly took steps to fire him.

McDowell was ultimately fired around April 2012, less than six months after he started working as a Sophia police officer.

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Former secretary Margaret Shields filed the lawsuit in December 2009 after allegedly being subjected to a sexually hostile work environment by Hatter and other Sheriff’s employees.

Shields claims that Hatter and other employees exchanged sexually offensive photos and text messages on their cellphones in 2007, and that she was shown sexually explicit photos that were displayed in the Sumter County Sheriff’s office.

According to the complaint, Shields complained to Hatter about the hostile work environment, but he allegedly did not take action to stop the sexual harassment.

Shields, who had worked as Hatter’s secretary since 2000, was fired in August 2007 after she took a medical leave of absence.

This is the second time that Hatter has been named in a sexual harassment lawsuit. In June 2009, a federal jury returned a $2.4 million verdict against Hatter after finding that Hatter offered a promotion to a Sumter County dispatcher in exchange for phone sex.

The jury also found that Hatter, who served as sheriff from 1994 until 2011, fired the dispatcher and another employee in retaliation for cooperating with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation when the bureau investigated the phone sex allegations.

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School directors had been conducting an annual employee audit when the employees came forward with the workplace bullying and hostile work environment accusations.

Englewood South County YMCA CEO Ken Modzelewski said that a number of parents also supported the employees’ allegations.

The investigation into Bula’s management practices will continue and a decision about Bula’s future with the school will likely be made in the next few weeks.

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